Madhur Bhandarkar’s latest offering on ZEE5, India Lockdown comes a little too late in the day. Because, it is related to the painfully long lockdown India faced during the Covid pandemic sometime back. Much of what the film talks about is known, and there will be little innovation. It is a compilation of four stories – all linked together by how people from different sections of the society were gripped by the fear of the deadly disease (when the medical fraternity had no clue what the virus was). For some there was also uncertainty about where the next meal would come from.
Prateik Babbar’s Madhav is a daily wage laborer, his wife Phoolmati (Sai Tamhankar) works as a domestic help and they are left in a web of helplessness when the lockdown is called off without any notice. Without income and food, Madhav and his wife as well as two young children are in despair. When they decide to travel back to their home in Bihar from Mumbai, the journey becomes harrowing. Starvation and extreme fatigue drive them to do the unthinkable.
Except one, the stories are also stale. Phoolmati’s employer, Nageswara Rao (Prakash Belawadi, who refuses to give us a new avatar), is unable to retain her, as his housing society has banned servants. And he is driving to Hyderabad with his pregnant daughter. The road trip brings its own challenges, including a disastrous confrontation with Madav, who is on the highway with his family.
In Mumbai, we have other types of daily wage earners; Mehru (played brilliantly by Shweta Basu Prasad) is a sex worker, and the Covid lockdown has decimated her income. But never one to say die, she initiates phone sex, with scenes that are rather regressive and poorly handled. Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah’s writing lacks in many places, and this is one of them. A bit of drama adds a bit of spark here and there when Mahru’s savings are stolen, and her anguish is framed with a fair amount of restraint.
Finally, we have air hostess Moon Alves (Aahana Kumra), who is so lonely and misses her high-flying assignment that she dons her uniform at home and sets out to find company. Her young neighbor, Dev (Satwik Bhatia) is also lonely and yearns for his girlfriend, who is unable to get out of the lockdown and curfew imposed by her father. Both Moon and Dev take comfort in each other’s arms in a segment that I found largely original and engaging.
Bhandarkar, who gave us the excellent Chandni Bar and others like Page 3, Jail, Fashion and Traffic Signal, really hasn’t been able to match up to his earlier work here.
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